Tyz Law Group Welcomes Game Industry Expert Jonathan Downing

Tyz Law Group is pleased to announce the addition of games industry expert Jonathan Downing, who will contribute his counseling expertise to the firm’s growing games industry practice. Jonathan comes to Tyz Law Group with five years of experience working in-house as Legal Specialist at games company Electronic Arts (EA). The addition of Jonathan brings the full-time team at Tyz Law Group to nine.

While at EA, Jonathan served as a primary legal contact for a number of game titles by addressing development team questions and provided risk-diminishing feedback and legal approval of many of EA’s consumer-facing marketing materials, in-game features and promotions. He also worked to identify and tackle incidents of EA copyright and trademark infringement and submitted copyright applications for new products.

“Jonathan’s in-house experience managing legal and copyright issues for EA makes him a valuable and welcome addition to our games practice,” says Ryan Tyz, Founder of Tyz Law Group. “Jonathan’s specialized and intimate knowledge of the games industry expands our breadth of experience and services for our clients.” 

“Tyz Law Group’s games practice team just seemed like such a natural fit for me,” Jonathan says. “The chance to couple my passions for entertainment and media with my legal and industry experience is a really exciting opportunity, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Jonathan’s past experience also incudes roles as a Production Assistant at Lucasfilm and a Legal Assistant at Gibney Anthony & Flaherty LLP.  He holds a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he graduated summa cum laude and earned an Intellectual Property and Technology Law Certificate with Honors.  He also has an M.A. in the Humanities from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in English with a specialty in film theory and criticism from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.  Jonathan lives in San Francisco and in his spare time enjoys gaming, either electronically or on a tabletop, and is a lifelong Dungeon Master. He also enjoys watching movies and reading, and is currently making a valiant effort to work his way through the entire back catalogue of Marvel’s publication history.